Massive blaze rips through council recycling centre

Scott McAngus

A huge fire which raged through the night at a council recycling centre took 30 firefighters to bring it under control.

The blaze broke out at the Kinneil Kerse plant in Bo’ness at around 7.40pm last night (Monday) and fire crews are still there more than 12 hours later this morning fighting the flames.

At the height of the inferno 30 firefighters were tackling the fire, which started at compost pile within the site.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue spokesman said: “At 7.40pm on Monday, September 18 the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted to reports of a compost pile on fire at Kinneil Kerse recycling facility in Bo’ness.

“At its height, six appliances attended and extinguished the fire using high-powered hoses. Crews remain at the scene and continue to dampen down the affected area which is approximately 40m x 40m.”

A Falkirk Council spokesman said: “We were alerted around 8pm last night (Monday) to a report of a fire at Kinneil Kerse recycling centre.

“On further investigation, the fire was at our composting slab, used for garden waste, that lies around 50 metres away from the main recycling area and facilities.

“Scottish Fire and Rescue have been on site throughout the night dealing with the incident.

“The site remains fully open to the public and all facilities are operational.”